Birr Journeys
العربية

Designed Back to all the journeys

Birr Georgia — Borjomi and Tskaltubo Springs

  • Eight nights, nine days
  • Three hotels, all with lifts
  • Gentle, with a steadier option most days
  • Up to 16 travellers
  • Runs at 8 travellers or not at all
  • Operated by us, not contracted out

Why Georgia, for parents

It is three and a half hours from Dubai, and Gulf passport holders need no visa at all.

The spring towns — Borjomi and Tskaltubo — are built for slow days. Level paths, mineral water, shade, and a chair never far away.

In September the highs sit between 22 and 26 degrees. Nothing about the day is a fight with the heat.

And it is the one journey we run ourselves, with our own host and our own nurse, rather than handing to a partner. That is why it goes first.

The journey, day by day

Written as it will actually happen. Walking distances are the real ones, drives are the real ones, and the rest hours are in the plan rather than in the gaps.

  1. Day 1

    From the hub to Tbilisi, arriving in daylight

    Morning: The host meets everyone at the Gulf hub from 09:30. Meet-and-assist through the airport, wheelchairs on request from the airline, and the group checks in together.

    Lunch: On board, halal, ordered in advance.

    Afternoon: Land about 15:35. Fast track and porters, then about 40 minutes by coach to the hotel. Keys are already cut and the rooms are near the lift. Rest from 17:00.

    Evening: Welcome dinner at 19:00 and the host’s briefing: the health passport, the emergency cards, and how the evening note to the family works. An early night.

    On their feet
    About 300 m, assisted
    Stairs
    None — an air bridge is requested
    On the coach
    About 40 minutes
    Prayer
    Dhuhr as travellers. Asr, Maghrib and Isha in the hotel prayer room.
    They sleep at
    Tbilisi
    Food
    Chicken machboos

  2. Day 2

    Jumah at the Juma Mosque

    Morning: Breakfast until 10:30, then a slow coach panorama — Rustaveli Avenue, Freedom Square, the Metekhi terrace over the old town. A level stroll past the brick domes of the sulphur baths, then tea by the river. The support van takes anyone who wants it the last 200 metres up to the mosque.

    Lunch: About 14:00 at a halal Arabic restaurant near Freedom Square — mandi and kabsa, and a kitchen we will have audited before anyone travels.

    Afternoon: 15:15 to 17:15 at the hotel.

    Evening: An optional stroll on the level paths of Vake Park, or the hotel pool in a women-only hour. Dinner at 19:30, then the evening note to the families.

    On their feet
    About 700–900 m, in segments of 200–300 m
    Stairs
    The mosque entrance steps — counted on the site visit
    On the coach
    About 1 h 15 in total
    Prayer
    Jumah at the Juma Mosque, about 13:00. The rest at the hotel.
    They sleep at
    Tbilisi, same hotel
    Food
    Lamb mandi at lunch

  3. Day 3

    To Borjomi, with warm bread at Surami on the way

    Morning: Leave at 10:15, porters load the bags. A tea-and-dates stop near Gori after about eighty minutes, then a short stop at a Surami bread stall with toilets.

    Lunch: At the hotel about 13:45, after checking in.

    Afternoon: 14:45 to 16:45.

    Evening: An optional level walk by the river in the park, 300 to 400 metres. Dinner at 19:30.

    On their feet
    About 500 m, in short segments
    Stairs
    None
    On the coach
    About 2 h 40, split into three legs of roughly 80, 50 and 45 minutes
    Prayer
    Dhuhr and Asr may be combined as travellers at the Surami stop. Hotel prayer room thereafter.
    They sleep at
    Borjomi
    Food
    Lamb kabsa

  4. Day 4

    Borjomi park, the mineral spring and the cable car

    Morning: Ten minutes by coach to the central park. A level paved walk of about 350 metres to the historic spring pavilion to taste the warm mineral water, then 150 metres to the cable car — a five-minute ride over 376 metres in the old cabin, tea at the top, and the ride back down. The group photograph is taken here; it becomes the framed gift at the end.

    Lunch: About 13:15 at a halal restaurant in Borjomi.

    Afternoon: 14:30 to 16:30 at the hotel.

    Evening: Tea and dates in a majlis at 17:30, or the hotel spa in a women-only hour. Dinner at 19:30.

    On their feet
    About 1.0–1.2 km, never more than about 400 m at a time
    Stairs
    The cable-car station steps — counted on the site visit
    On the coach
    About 30 minutes
    Prayer
    Dhuhr at the restaurant or back at the hotel. The rest in the hotel prayer room.
    They sleep at
    Borjomi, same hotel
    Food
    Chicken biryani at lunch

  5. Day 5

    A rest day, and it is a real one

    Morning: A late breakfast until 11:00. After that, nothing is compulsory: a consultation at the hotel’s medical centre, a quiet riverside walk of 300 to 500 metres, or the whole morning in a chair.

    Lunch: At the hotel, 13:30.

    Afternoon: 14:30 to 16:30.

    Evening: A seated Georgian sweets demonstration with a local cook at 17:30 — churchkhela and tklapi. Family-style dinner at 19:30, then the video-call hour with the families, run by the host.

    On their feet
    500 m or less, and optional
    Stairs
    None
    On the coach
    None
    Prayer
    Every prayer in the hotel prayer room.
    They sleep at
    Borjomi, same hotel
    Food
    Harees

  6. Day 6

    Over the Rikoti expressway to Tskaltubo

    Morning: Leave at 10:30. One stop at a service area after about seventy minutes — tea, dates and Arabic coffee from the host’s dallah. Arrive about 13:20.

    Lunch: At the hotel, 13:45.

    Afternoon: 14:45 to 16:45.

    Evening: For anyone who wants the mineral baths, the resort doctor sees them at 17:15 and writes a ruling — the baths happen only with it. Everyone else takes a level stroll of about 400 metres in the spa park. Dinner at 19:30.

    On their feet
    About 500 m
    Stairs
    The bath house entrance — counted on the site visit
    On the coach
    About 2 h 45, split into two legs of at most 75–80 minutes
    Prayer
    Dhuhr and Asr may be combined as travellers at the stop. Hotel prayer room thereafter.
    They sleep at
    Tskaltubo
    Food
    Saloona with rice

  7. Day 7

    The cave, if they want it — and the private mineral baths

    Morning: Twenty minutes to Prometheus Cave, which is entirely optional and genuinely demanding: 1.4 km underground, about an hour, many short flights of steps with handrails, 14 degrees and wet floors. The nurse and the host go with whoever goes. Everyone else has tea on the spa park terrace and a slow walk, with the support van on call.

    Lunch: 12:45 in Kutaisi, sixteen minutes away, at an audited halal restaurant.

    Afternoon: 14:00 to 16:00 at the hotel.

    Evening: Private mineral bath rooms from 16:30 to 18:00 — water at 33 to 35 degrees, ten to fifteen minutes, an attendant on hand. A women’s block first, with female attendants requested, then the men’s. Only for those holding the doctor’s written ruling from the day before. The nurse waits outside the rooms, not inside them. Dinner at 19:30.

    On their feet
    Cave group about 1.4 km; everyone else 500 m or less
    Stairs
    Cave: many flights, above our own limit. Otherwise at most one flight.
    On the coach
    About 1 h 10 in total
    Prayer
    Dhuhr in Kutaisi or at the hotel. Asr between the two bath blocks.
    They sleep at
    Tskaltubo, same hotel
    Food
    Lebanese mixed grill and mezze

  8. Day 8

    Back to Tbilisi, and the farewell majlis

    Morning: Leave at 10:15. A comfort stop at a service area after about seventy-five minutes. This is the long drive of the journey and it is set out in full below.

    Lunch: A full hour, 12:45 to 13:45, at a pre-arranged halal table at Surami with warm nazuki bread.

    Afternoon: A short stop near Gori at about 14:50. At the hotel by about 16:00, and then rest until 18:30.

    Evening: The farewell majlis at 19:30 in a private hall: floor cushions and chairs for knees that prefer chairs, Arabic coffee and dates, an oud player, and a Gulf table. The host presents the framed group photograph. Maghrib is prayed together in the hall. An adult child may fly in for this night.

    On their feet
    About 400 m
    Stairs
    None
    On the coach
    3 h 15 to 3 h 40 — over our own three-hour rule, and set out in full below
    Prayer
    Dhuhr and Asr combined as travellers at lunch. Maghrib in congregation at the majlis.
    They sleep at
    Tbilisi, the first hotel again
    Food
    Lamb ouzi at the majlis

  9. Day 9

    Home

    Morning: Breakfast until 10:30, check-out at 11:00, porters take the bags. Time to pack slowly.

    Lunch: A light lunch at the hotel at 12:30.

    Afternoon: Two day rooms are held to the last minute — one for the women, one as the men’s prayer space.

    Evening: Coach to the airport at 13:30, meet-and-assist and fast track, and the host goes with them all the way to the gate at the hub.

    On their feet
    About 300 m, assisted
    Stairs
    None
    On the coach
    About 40 minutes
    Prayer
    Dhuhr and Asr combined at the hotel before leaving. Travellers are exempt from Jumah on a travel day; if the flight is at 17:00 or later, Jumah at the Juma Mosque is offered on the way.
    They sleep at
    —
    Food
    Chicken kabsa at lunch

The pace, and the one place we break our own rule

Our design rule is no more than about three hours on a coach in a day, 300 to 500 metres of walking at a time and at most one flight of stairs with a handrail. This journey keeps that rule on eight of its nine days.

Day 8 breaks it, and here is the real number

The drive back from Tskaltubo to Tbilisi on Day 8 is 232 kilometres and takes three hours fifteen to three hours forty. That is over our own limit. We could not design it out without either a Kutaisi departure or a second block of nights in Borjomi, and neither of those is costed yet.

So it is registered as an approved exception and it travels with conditions:

  • The coach is split into legs of no more than about seventy-five minutes.
  • Three stops, including a full hour for lunch at Surami with warm nazuki bread.
  • We ask for a coach with a WC on board for this day specifically.
  • The nurse does a comfort and hydration check at every stop.
  • There is no walking that day beyond about 400 metres, and the farewell majlis that evening starts late and everyone is seated.

We are telling you this rather than writing "about three hours" because a family deciding whether their 74-year-old mother can sit on a coach deserves the real figure.

The Prometheus Cave on Day 7 is optional and it is the one thing on this journey that is genuinely demanding: 1.4 kilometres underground, about an hour, many short flights of steps with handrails, 14 degrees and wet floors. Everyone who does not want it has tea on the Spa Park terrace instead, with the support van on call. Nobody has to explain themselves.

Where they sleep

Three hotels over eight nights, so bags are packed three times and not eight. Every one has a lift. Rooms are pre-assigned near the lift, with twin beds and the keys ready when the coach arrives — nobody stands at a reception desk at the end of a flight.

  • Nights 1, 2 and 8

    Pullman Tbilisi Axis Towers

    ★★★★★ · Lift throughout

    In flat Vake, beside the level paths of Vake Park rather than the steep cobbles of the old town. Twin rooms, indoor pool and spa, and the coach can stop at the door. Six minutes from an internationally accredited hospital.

    Radisson Blu Iveria · Sheraton Grand Metechi Palace

  • Nights 3, 4 and 5

    Borjomi Likani Health & Spa Centre

    ★★★★★ · Lift throughout

    A quiet riverside park with level paths, a medical centre on site, a hammam and a pool — the right place for a rest day. About a kilometre from the town hospital.

    Crowne Plaza Borjomi

  • Nights 6 and 7

    Tskaltubo Plaza Hotel

    ★★★★★ · Lift throughout

    The best-rated large hotel in the resort and within walking distance of the spa park, with twin rooms and a spa of its own. Minutes from the district hospital, and sixteen from the referral hospital in Kutaisi.

    Legends Tskaltubo Spa Resort · Newport Hotel Kutaisi

These are the hotels we are contracting. Until the block is signed we will not tell you they are confirmed, and the hotel your parents actually sleep in is named on your confirmation before you pay a deposit.

Prayer and food

Friday prayer on Day 2 at the Juma Mosque in Tbilisi, the city’s historic mosque, where Sunni and Shia have prayed in the same hall since the dividing curtain came down in 1996. There is a separate women’s entrance, and the women’s space is small — so the host arranges room for the group with the mosque in advance, and the hotel prayer room is the fallback rather than a surprise.

The lane up to the mosque is about 200 metres of sloping cobbles. The support van takes anyone who wants it to the door.

There is no mosque in Borjomi or Tskaltubo. At every hotel we set up a meeting room as a prayer room, with the qibla marked, mats laid, and separate rows or a screen for the women. That is arranged before arrival, not asked for at the desk.

Full board, halal, for eight days. Halal-certified meat comes from an audited supplier in Tbilisi in a cold chain to the Borjomi and Tskaltubo kitchens, with separate utensils. One Gulf or Arab dish every day — machboos, kabsa, harees, ouzi — alongside the Georgian food worth trying.

No alcohol at our tables and no wine service, anywhere, on any day.

Who is actually beside them

Four people, and each one does a different job. We are precise about this because the difference matters if something goes wrong.

  1. The Rafeeqa — your parents’ host

    An Arabic-speaking woman with a nursing or paramedic background, certified in first aid, CPR and safe mobility help. She flies with the group from the Gulf hub and stays with them until they land home. She carries the group’s health passports and writes the evening note to you.

    She is a companion with a nursing background. She is not the trip’s nurse and does not practise as one.

  2. The nurse

    A nurse registered with the state in the country we are in, contracted through a licensed agency or clinic, working to a written protocol and a doctor’s prescription. She travels on the coach, stays in the same hotel and is on call at night.

    Her registration number is printed in the health passport your parents carry.

  3. The doctor

    A 24-hour on-call doctor at an internationally accredited hospital, reachable in person or by video, plus Arabic-language telemedicine so your mother can describe how she feels in her own words.

    We do not provide medical care ourselves and we make no medical promises.

  4. The health passport

    A bilingual document each traveller carries: conditions, medications, allergies, the emergency contacts, the nurse’s registration number and the nearest hospital at every stop.

    It is built from a health file that belongs to your parent, not to you. See below.

How far the hospital is, at every stop

We state this plainly because it is the question a careful family asks and rarely gets answered.

Where they sleep Nearest hospital Nearest accredited hospital
Tbilisi (nights 1, 2, 8) American Hospital Tbilisi — 4.3 km, about 6 minutes Internationally accredited, and it is the one 6 minutes away
Borjomi (nights 3, 4, 5) Borjomi Multidisciplinary Medical Center — about 1 km About 2 h 20 away, in Tbilisi
Tskaltubo (nights 6, 7) Tskaltubo district hospital in town; the Kutaisi referral hospital 10.9 km away, about 16 minutes About 3 h 15 away. Kutaisi airport is 29 minutes, for an air ambulance.

Two of the three places your parents sleep are more than two hours from an internationally accredited hospital: Borjomi is about two hours twenty from Tbilisi, and Tskaltubo about three hours fifteen. Both have a local hospital minutes away for a first response, and Kutaisi airport is 29 minutes from Tskaltubo if an air ambulance is ever needed. You should know all three of those numbers before you decide.

Visas, by passport

Read from the Georgian government’s own ordinances rather than from a travel blog. Every source is linked below.

Passport Status Stay The basis in law
Saudi No visa Up to one year Ordinance No. 255
Emirati No visa Carry the full entry dossier — see the note below. Up to one year Ordinance No. 255
Kuwaiti No visa Up to one year Ordinance No. 255
Qatari No visa Up to one year Ordinance No. 255
Omani No visa Carry the full entry dossier — see the note below. Up to one year Ordinance No. 255
Bahraini No visa Up to one year Ordinance No. 255
Lebanese No visa Up to one year Ordinance No. 255
Jordanian, resident in the Gulf No visa with a valid GCC residence permit; otherwise an e-visa 90 days in any 180 Ordinance No. 256 — the permit must be valid on the day of entry
Egyptian, resident in the Gulf No visa with a valid GCC residence permit; otherwise an e-visa 90 days in any 180 Ordinance No. 256
Syrian, resident in the Gulf Confirm with the consulate in writing before booking 90 days in any 180 Ordinance No. 256 names no excluded nationality, but border discretion here is real and we will not tell you it is settled when it is not.

Whatever the passport

Emirati families were turned back at the Georgian border in 2018 and Omani families in 2022. It is rare, and it is not nothing. Every traveller carries a full entry dossier — return ticket, hotel vouchers, insurance certificate and a letter from our registered operator — and we use meet-and-assist at the airport. If anyone is refused entry despite that, we refund the land cost and escort them home.

Where these facts come from

Insurance — what we will and will not say

Since 1 January 2026 Georgia requires every visitor to hold health and accident insurance of at least 30,000 lari for the whole stay, in Georgian or English. That is the country’s rule, not ours, and it may be checked at the border.

We will tell you exactly what the policy has to cover and we will help you meet it.

What we will not do is promise you cover for a condition your mother already has. We looked hard for a product that sells it to travellers in their seventies and we did not find one that we can lawfully place for a family in the Gulf. Until an insurer licensed in the GCC writes that wording, you will not see it claimed anywhere on this site, in an advertisement, or in a message from us.

What is included

  • Return economy flights from the chosen Gulf hub, with checked baggage, and fixed-price connections from Riyadh, Jeddah, Kuwait, Doha, Muscat and Bahrain
  • The Rafeeqa host from hub to hub; a state-registered nurse travelling with the group; a doctor on call 24 hours; Arabic-language telemedicine
  • Eight nights in three hotels, four- and five-star, all with lifts, twin beds, rooms near the lift
  • Full board, halal — eight breakfasts, eight lunches, eight dinners, one Gulf or Arab dish every day, Arabic coffee and dates at every stop
  • A private coach and a support van throughout, and an Arabic-speaking licensed guide
  • Porterage at every hotel and airport, and meet-and-assist and fast track at both ends
  • Entry tickets: Borjomi central park, the cable car both ways, the cave with its guide if they choose it, the resort doctor’s consultation and one private mineral bath
  • Friday prayer at the Juma Mosque with a door-to-door shuttle, and a prepared prayer room at every hotel
  • A bilingual health passport, the screening before departure, the evening note to the family and the photographs
  • The farewell majlis and the framed group photograph

What is not included

  • Travel insurance. Georgia requires it and we will tell you exactly what it must cover — but we do not sell it and we do not promise cover for a condition someone already has.
  • Visa fees where a passport needs one, listed separately and at cost
  • A room of their own — the single supplement is shown before you pay
  • A companion or mahram seat, and an adult child joining the final night — both priced separately
  • The optional boat section inside the cave, and any spa session beyond the one included
  • Personal spending, laundry, room service and phone calls
  • Tips beyond those already built into the journey

When it runs

September to mid-October is the best season — drier, 22 to 26 degrees, and after the Gulf family peak. These are the 2027 windows we would sell, with the Hijri calendar checked against each one.

  • Thursday 2 to Friday 10 September 2027

    The best of the season and the only window with no calendar caveat at all.

  • Thursday 16 to Friday 24 September 2027

    Our first departure. A Friday return lands on the Gulf weekend.

  • Thursday 30 September to Friday 8 October 2027

    Mild, dry, and Borjomi at its calmest.

  • Thursday 15 to Friday 23 April 2027

    A spring alternative, cooler in Borjomi at 15 to 17 degrees.

And the periods we will not sell:

  • Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, about 8 February to 12 March 2027
  • Dhu al-Hijjah and Eid al-Adha, about 7 to 19 May 2027
  • Ashura, about 14 to 15 June 2027 — our travellers pray in a mosque where Sunni and Shia pray together, so departures are mixed and this date does not suit either a rest day or a long drive
  • Orthodox Easter week, around 2 May 2027 — the Georgian domestic travel peak
  • Late June to August — the Gulf family peak, the top hotel rates, and heat above 32 degrees

Where these facts come from

Drive times are from the public OpenStreetMap router. Prayer times are calculated for each town. Hotel facts are from the hotels’ own listings. Visa rules are from the Georgian government ordinances linked above. Nothing on this page is a number we remembered.

  • Drive times: the public OpenStreetMap routing engine (car profile) — Checked 2026-09-14
  • Prayer times: time.quranmajeed.com, calculated per town — Checked 2026-09-14
  • Hotel facilities and lifts: the hotels’ own listings — Checked 2026-09-14
  • The Juma Mosque: georgia.travel and the mosque’s published description — Checked 2026-09-14
  • Hospitals and distances: OpenStreetMap and the hospitals’ own network pages — Checked 2026-09-14
  • The Day 8 coach exception: trips/POLICY-EXCEPTIONS.md, approved 2026-09-15 — Checked 2026-09-15